Maeve
by 57.EllaMiller
Summary: Bella didn't get back together with Edward during New Moon but stayed with Jacob. This is about her cousin who came to live with her after a personal tragedy, what will she make of the Cullens? Rated M for language and adult themes


Chapter one

I heard a thud from outside my door followed by mild cursing in a bell like voice. Great, here comes Bella, my cousin. Why can't she just leave me alone? The door opened and there she was, in all her glory. She was stunningly beautiful, although incredibly annoying. She was so sweet she made my teeth hurt, or that could just be because of me grinding them whenever she opens that pretty little mouth.

"Um, Maeve?" I wish she would just spit out what she has to say instead of standing there blushing like an idiot. I made a non-committal grunt, in response. "I think you should get up today… I mean it's your first day at school tomorrow and… um… you could come out with me and Jake today… maybe go to the beach?" Yeah right, like I'd want to go out with her and Jacob, her boyfriend. They were disgusting when they were together; all they ever did was slobber all over each other.

"No thanks" now please fuck off.

"Look, I know you're hurting" oh God she's not going to try and sympathise with me is she? "I know what it feels like to have your heart broken" Oh she does, does she?

"Really? When did your parents die? When did you have to move from your friends and home to the other side of the world?" my voice was dripping with bitter sarcasm as I watched her reaction.

"Well, obviously that hasn't happened but my boyfriend left me last year" I froze and stared at her before laughing harshly

"Are you seriously comparing my parent's death with your high school boyfriend leaving you?" is she crazy?

"He took the people that were like a family to me with him" she added uncertainly and I turned back over in my bed.

"Oh, sorry for not crying, I think I used all my tears up for this month" I know I'm slightly bitter and a bitch, but she has no idea how I'm feeling. I heard her huff and slam the door and tried to sink back into oblivion. It didn't work. I always knew I'd have to get up eventually; looks like today would be the day. I dragged myself up into a sitting position. Ugh I feel disgusting; I think a shower is in order.

Once clean and dressed I wandered over to my suitcase, I may as well unpack. I hung up about two shirts before my stomach growled. Well, that was a good sign; I've barely eaten anything in the past few weeks.

I walked out of my room and down the stairs to the kitchen. I wonder where everyone is. Oh well, I prefer to be alone anyway. I began to look through the cupboards and decided to make some pasta.

After I had been fed and watered I went back upstairs to finish packing. I caught sight of myself in a mirror and flinched. I look terrible. I know I'm not ugly; I can actually look quite pretty, but not right now. My brown hair looked lank, my once slim curves were reduced to sharp angles, and the bags under my hazel eyes were deep and dark. To summaries I look like shit. Eventually I just shrugged and carried on with my unpacking. Who cares if I look like shit? Wouldn't anyone look like shit if they'd been through what I have? I heard banging and laughing down stairs. Great, there back.

"Maeve! Come down and meet everyone" I groaned. Well I suppose I'd have to do this sometime, why not now? I shoved on my big yellow hoodie on to hide my skeleton like body and trudged down the stairs to greet my cousin's friends. She was standing at the bottom grinning, probably happy she'd made some progress.

"Ok, so this is Mike, Jess, Angela, Ben, Eric, Tyler and Lauren, obviously you know Jake"

"Hi" I replied in a monotone voice, I was never going to remember all the names and to be perfectly honest I don't particularly care.

"Welcome to America Maeve, do you like it here?" they sounded the words slowly and carefully, great, they all thought I was a simpleton

"It's ok I suppose, I haven't really seen much of it" I crossed my arms and leaned slightly on the banister. They were probably all wondering why I hadn't came down the stairs fully.

"What do you miss most about England?" the little brunette gushed, oh I can tell I'm going to like her (note sarcasm)

"PG Tips" I answered easily and they looked at me confused. Seriously, if you ask an English girl what they miss most about England the answer will always be tea, "and maybe the Boosh, but I have them on DVD so not really"

"The Boosh? What the hell is that?" they looked at one another confused. Jesus, I'm probably going to have to educate everyone on The Mighty Boosh, and I bet they wouldn't even see the humour.

"The Mighty Boosh is an English TV series, it's a comedy"

"Oh, what's it about?" OK now this is where it gets difficult.

"It's hard to explain…" I trailed off hoping they would leave it alone for now and an awkward silence settled in the corridor. I leaned further on the banister and rolled my eyes when everyone was staring at me like I was suddenly going to go crazy and start stripping or something.

"Anyway, I'd love to stay and carry on with this riveting conversation but I'm unpacking so bye" and I clambered back up the stairs without waiting for a response, sniggering when I heard one of them comment on my weirdness. I really can't be bothered with petty high school dramas.

I couldn't sleep that night. Let's face it; I'm not going to fit in at all tomorrow. Nobody will get my humour, nobody will share the same interests or like the same music, I'm basically just going to spend the entire day by myself. I guess there is an upside.

I dragged myself out of bed when Charlie banged on my door to wake me up. He's the only person I actually like here; he leaves me alone and doesn't give me those pitying glances. He just awkwardly smiles and says good morning before going to work, just what I need. After washing I shoved on a pair of jeans and my hoodie before putting my black ankle boots on and attempting to cover up the bags under my eyes with some make up. Needless to say I failed miserably. After pulling my hair into a messy bun I slumped down the stairs and found myself nearly sobbing over the fact that I couldn't have a good cup of tea. I looked about the kitchen forlorn before Charlie interrupted.

"What's wrong? You don't have to go yet if you're not ready"

"No, it's not that… no tea" I spoke solemnly but allowed the corner of my mouth to twitch. He chuckled in response.

"Poor kid, I'm afraid you'll have to manage without"

"Oh, the hardships I have to face" he snorted again before patting my shoulder awkwardly and shouting a bye over his shoulder and leaving. Good old Charlie.

I sat myself at the kitchen table and waited for Bella to finish getting ready. It wasn't long before I heard her cheerfully stumbling in, walking into the doorknob on the way. I swear she's almost disabled.

"Morning Maeve"

"Yeah" I wasn't in the mood for a cheerful conversation.

"Are you ready to go?" I nodded my head before wrapping my scarf around my neck and putting on my nice blue coat. If everyone dresses like Bella, with those big stupid parker things, I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb. I sighed and followed her out to her shitty car. After climbing in she turned to me with her lecture face on.

"Can you try to be nice? You weren't very pleasant to everyone yesterday, but it's ok because Mike still liked you, he told me he's thinking of asking you out" I groaned and banged my head on her dashboard.

"Can you not just tell him I'm gay?" I pleaded

"No, I think you should go out with him, it will be good for you"

"Bella! Stop trying to rehabilitate me with out my permission! I will become a normal teenager again in my own good time" I growled and proceeded to stare out the window as I heard her sniffle and start her car.

It didn't take her long to get us to school and she cried the whole way. I couldn't even bring myself to feel guilty; she seriously needs to toughen up. I climbed out as soon as it stopped and walked to the office.

I cleared my throat to get the attention of the lady in the office and she looked up then smiled sadly, great.

"You must be Maeve" I nodded and looked away, not being able to stomach the pity. After getting my timetable, a map and pieces of paper, dodged my way through the students to my first class, ignoring the stares.

I arrived at Maths early and ended up having to sit next to the small brunette with the big hair that I met yesterday, I couldn't very well ignore her when she was jumping around and waving frantically.

"Hey Maeve, this is so great we're in Maths together, isn't this amazing" Yeah truly shocking, I think I might die of surprise.

"So you're the new girl huh?" I turned around and found myself staring at an arrogant little boy with blue eyes and blonde hair, I suddenly had the urge to say no and ask him why he hadn't notice me before, but I didn't. "I'm James, I'll take you out on Friday night and show you the sights" he winked at me and I looked at him in puzzlement, what was he going to do, tell me all the names of the trees? I fixed a sneer on my face and looked him up and down before answering.

"I'm sorry, I don't do charity" I watched in satisfaction as his mouth hung open and the class began to laugh. I turned back round and the girl stared to gush about how amazing that was and I started to get a headache.

"Sorry, but if you don't shut up I'm actually going to commit suicide" she laughed uncertainly, "I'm not joking" I heard someone snort in front of me. It sounded like it came from the little black haired girl and she turned around and smirked at me. I found myself automatically smirking back. She was another stunner but I couldn't bring myself to hate her for it, I kind of had a feeling I'd like her.

"I'm Alice"

"Maeve" Her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly then her smirk turned into a grin before she shifted her stuff off the seat beside her and I grabbed mine and sat next to her.

"I like your coat, where did you get it?"

"Miss Selfridge, in England" she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Damn it! We don't have that here, we have to go designer for nice stuff"

"Wow, that sucks" she nodded. We sat in a comfortable silence before the teacher came in and started the lesson. It wasn't long before I realised I was way ahead of the other people in my class, in England, we start out education at four. I was about to start an A level course in maths, this stuff was child's play.

"Alice"

"Yeah"

"Are you finding this easy?"

"Yeah"

"Good, I think I did this two years ago" she started to giggle silently. "In England I only had to take four subjects this year, how the hell do you guys do so many?"

"I don't think we do them in as much depth"

"Oh…"

"What have you got next?" I looked at my timetable and paled.

"Spanish" I croaked, "I haven't done that since I was fourteen and I skipped out on most of the lessons and ended up with a D" she started laughing at my horrified expression.

"Don't worry, I'm in your class, I'll give you a hand"

"I think I love you" she giggled again and we sat and talked comfortably until the end of the class.

Spanish was hideous, as I predicted, Alice creased every time I attempted a pronunciation. I had to admit, it was pretty funny. I agreed to sit with her at lunch. As we were walking there I noticed Bella glaring at her and was confused; sweet innocent Bella not liking somebody? That's weird.

"Um Alice? Why does Bella look like she wants you to die slowly?"

"You know Bella?"

"Yeah, she's my cousin"

"Oh" she suddenly looked really upset, "well I don't know if you will want to sit with me then…"

"Explain"

"We used to be best friends"

"Oh, are you the one that left her when her boyfriend did?"

"Yeah… but it wasn't my fault, he made me!"

"Ok,"

"You're not going to punch me and call me a slut?"

"Why you into that shit?" she burst out laughing shaking her head.

"So you're ok that my brother broke your cousin's heart?"

"Well, it obviously didn't have lasting effects considering she's with dear Jake now, it just wasn't meant to be I guess." I shrugged and she smiled

"Exactly! I can't believe she's with that dog!" she scrunched up her face in disgust; sadly she still looked completely stunning.

"Dog?" I laughed "that's a bit harsh"

She sniggered slightly before turning serious. "I have to warn you, don't mention anything about Bella around Edward, and don't even think of her"

"Why?"

"He's still in love with her and goes all blah" ok because that makes so much sense.

"If he's in love with her why did he leave her?"

"Because he was being an ass"

"Fair enough" we walked in silence for a while until she turned suddenly and looked nervous.

"Maeve, would you like to come shopping with me this weekend?" Aw she looked so hopeful.

"Yeah sure, I love shopping" her eyes widened and she started to jump up and down eventually launching herself into my arms

"Yay! This is going to be so great!" then she started to babble on about everywhere we'd go. This hyperactive little pixie sure was growing on me.

We eventually made it to the lunch room and Alice grabbed my hand to drag me over to the table with four other people sitting there. I felt my jaw become slack. They were all completely gorgeous. There was a stunning blond girl with a permanent sneer attached to her face sitting next to a huge dark curly haired man who was wearing a goofy grin. Alice danced over to the male blond that had a hard look in his eyes, they softened when they looked upon Alice and he looked at her like she was his sun, it made my heart hurt. But the last was the most stunning. He had bronze tousled hair, full lips, and a perfectly chiselled jaw; but his eyes looked haunted and his face was void of any emotion it made my heart clench painfully, this must be Edward. They looked nothing alike but exactly the same. The same colour eyes, the same pale skin and the same feel of age beyond their youthful looks; they were quite odd but then again so am I.

"Everyone this is Maeve, she's new" Everyone looked up at me and I did a stupid little wave with a smile that I'm sure looked more like a grimace. "Maeve this is Rosalie" she pointed to the bitchy looking blond, "Emmett" the big curly haired guy, "My Jaz" the harsh looking blond, "and Edward" ha! I was right.

"Hi" replied lamely, Edward looked up but didn't give any response just stared at me, so I stared right back with my eyebrow raised, not wanting to seem intimidated.

"Why on earth did you bring this little nobody to sit with us Alice?" The blond bitch sneered.

I turned to Emmett, "Hun, your girlfriend seems to have issues, maybe you could give her a quick fuck to loosen her up"

They were silent for a few seconds before Alice's tinkling laugh sounded out followed by Emmett's loud boisterous chortling and Jasper's quiet chuckling, even Edwards lips twitched into a slight smile.

"I like your idea" Emmett grinned and pulled Rosalie onto his lap causing her to giggle girlishly, I did not expect that.

I sat between Alice and Edward, and smiled shyly, happy to be accepted so quickly.

Edward was still staring at me, his brow furrowed with a look of frustration on his face, have I sat on his coat or something? Nope, what's his problem?

"You got a problem pretty boy?" I raised my eyebrow and cocked my head to the side. He smirked like he'd just figured me out.

"I'm not interested" what?

"In what, art, music, history, fashion? Go on, give me a clue at least"

"I'm not interested in dating"

"That's lovely but what do you want me to do about it?"

"I can tell you think I'm attractive" arrogant little bastard

"Of course I do, I'm not blind. However I also think Rosalie's attractive, that doesn't mean I want to date her" his brow furrowed again "actually, all of you could be considered quite attractive, that doesn't mean I want your babies" that was a lie; I would quite happily have Edward's babies.

"Finally, someone that will rip you down off that high horse you've always been riding" Rosalie grinned at me, I guess I've broken through her defences.

"Yeah, I think what Lauren and Jessica think about you has gone to your head" I laughed when I heard Emmett say that.

"Oh dear, you haven't been going off what they think have you? Because to be frank I think they would fuck anything with a dick" They all laughed again, except Edward who was glaring at me.

"Yeah but we don't even know if Eddie here actually has a dick" they laughed again

"Grow up Emmett" Edward snarled

"Hey, chill Eduardo, I'm sure you have a dick" I hope you do anyway, "you need to loosen up, maybe you should go get yourself some sex like Rose, take Jess and Lauren up on their offer" or me, I was laughing by the end and so were his siblings.

"Ugh, like I'd do anything with them" he looked truly disgusted, "and unlike you I don't sleep around" excuse me!!

"What do you mean unlike me? You say anything to me like that again I'll rip that little prick of yours off and ram it down your throat!" that bastard! How dare he speak to me like that!

"I'd like to see you try, your playing with things too dangerous for you little girl" he replied scathingly. Yeah well, so are you.

"What?" huh? "Did you say something?"

"Um no" shit, I've got to get control of my temper; I didn't mean to transfer that thought. The bell rang and it was time for biology.

"What have you got now Maeve" Alice asked

"Biology"

"Oh, so has Edward" great.

To my surprise he walked with me to biology, he seemed to be deep in thought and I was unconsciously scowling at everyone. I only realised when people started flinching away.

"Cheer up" the velvety voice beside me said, "many girls would kill to be in your shoes"

"I don't blame them, I have really great shoes" he chuckled and it was glorious, maybe I could help him with that broken heart, make him laugh it off. We walked the rest of the way in silence.

I then realised I wanted to kill my biology teacher, he wanted me to introduce myself. How awful, I never know what to say with this.

"Hi, I'm Maeve; I'm from the North of England, a place called Newcastle. I'm cliché enough to love tea but I do brush my teeth and I don't call people who have more money that me governor" they laughed, "the weather is pretty much the same here as it is over there so the rain is really making me feel at home" I smiled and decided to finish on that note.

The only spare seat was next to Edward so I sat there and nearly laughed out loud when I saw the blond guy from this morning glare at him and then me.

"Why does James hate you?" he asked with a wiry smile

"Because I humiliated him this morning" he looked at me questioningly and I sighed before continuing, "he asked me, actually no, he told me I was going to go out with him on Friday and so I replied that I didn't do charity" ahh the glorious chuckle.

The teacher set us some work, which was again ridiculously easy and after a few moments silence Edward was again talking to me.

"So why did you move to Forks?" he questioned and I felt my mouth turn down into a frown.

"I had to" I replied simply hoping he'd leave it alone, then again, when am I ever that lucky?

"Why?"

"My only living relatives live here" I spoke quietly but he still heard me.

"Who are you living with?"

"My uncle and his daughter" could he not leave me to wallow for a few moments

"Where are your parents?" his voice was smooth and coaxing

"I'd like to think they're in heaven but I'm not sure that exists… the last of their remains are probably floating somewhere around England" I looked up and saw his questioning gaze, "They were cremated and I let their ashes go by the sea… my dad always loved the sea…" my voice broke towards the end and I began concentrating on the piece of paper in front of me, willing myself not to cry.

"I'm sorry" he spoke softly

"Don't be, you didn't kill them"

"Well then I'm sorry for how I acted before and what I said, I don't know you nearly enough for those kinds of accusations"

"Apology accepted but you're going to need to get used to people teasing you if you're going to hang around with me, it's my main form of communication"

He chuckled his broad shoulders shaking "This is the first time I've laughed in months" he spoke softly, his voice caressing me, "did Alice tell you what happened?"

"I already knew what happened. Well not all of it, I don't know the reasons" his head whipped around to watch me with narrowed eyes, he looked wild and I had to suppress a shudder (and not from fear).

"How did you know before?" his voice was harsh but no less enticing.

"She's the cousin I'm living with"

"Well how can you bear to talk to me" he whispered sounding forlorn and my heart shivered in response.

"Quite easily, I'm sure you had your reasons and I'm sure they seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. You acted like a moron" his head turned sharply and his mouth opened in shock, if I'm honest he looked adorable, "but you're male so it's to be expected" he let out a choked laugh at this and I made my voice go soft and what I hoped was comforting, "you made a mistake, and you're not the first to make one, you're not perfect and you can't expect yourself to be. However I think you have to start letting go, it's not healthy to carry that much guilt, regret and sorrow, you have to move on, she has." I stopped to gouge his reaction his mouth closed and he began staring at the paper in front of him. I gingerly laid my hand on his shoulder and let my thumb rub soothing circles. He tensed at first but eventually relaxed and gave me a small smile. The glimmer of hope in his eyes made my spirits lift and I felt apart of myself heal.

"How old are you?"

"18 why?" I asked confused

"You seem older"

"I guess loosing everything can do that to you" I gave him a small smile and dropped my hand off his shoulder and onto the desk. He slowly put his hand over it and gave it a small squeeze. His skin was cold and hard but it felt good, another part of my soul was sown back together. I could feel emotions surging through me but I pushed them to the back of my head to sort out later. I didn't want to complicate things between me and Edward. He withdrew his hand and I had to stop myself from frowning, and then he carried on with his questioning like nothing had happened.

I felt much happier after Biology. It was easy being with Edward, it felt natural. I didn't know what that meant but I didn't really care, I was in too deep now.


End file.
